yup, cloud is more expensive than individual servers for most scenarios.

if you have huge load spikes it might end up cheaper though, because you don't have to have tons of servers that sit idle at night.

cloud also gives you more flexibility in terms of resources, backup, fault tolerance (you can move virtual machines between physical machines without any downtime).

at tpu we don't use cloud hosting because none of the advantages is big enough to justify the significantly higher cost

if you need a very lightweight "server", then a VPS (virtual private server) is definitely the best option because you share an expensive physical machine with other customers, obviously someone makes a profit in the middle, but it's usually still cheaper for you than getting a dedicated server.

if you need a very lightweight "server", then a VPS (virtual private server) is definitely the best option because you share an expensive physical machine with other customers, obviously someone makes a profit in the middle, but it's usually still cheaper for you than getting a dedicated server.

Click to expand...

That's an interesting takeaway. I'm sure there are other services included in cloud storage that might make the cost differential worth it, but what you say (and the article) it's about economy of scale and the geographic situation that may make cloud services more cost efficient or sometimes just plain cheaper.

geography makes no difference in my opinion, you can get servers anywhere where you can get cloud

i do think that one day a company will offer cloud at pricing that's equal or better to dedicated servers (they'd still make a profit due to more efficient use of the server's hardware plus the normal markup you'd have to pay for a dedicated anyway). and that will bring a revolution and tons of money for that company. it does need a few million investment though and why take such a chance if you can just price it as high as currently and people still go for it

Foxconn Blackops (24 pin connector is loose so power cable has to be plugged in just right)

Cooling:

Thermalright Ultra 120

Memory:

4x 2Gb Crucial Ballistix 7-7-7-9

Video Card(s):

EVGA GTX 570 SC (running below stock due to stability issues)

Hard Disk(s):

1 x 320 GB Seagate 7200 rpm SATA 3 (Very slow)

Optical Drive:

LG DVD-RW 24x (yes, I still use an optical drive)

LCD/CRT Model:

Samsung 24inch 1920x1080

Case:

Cooler Master ATX Mid Tower Something Something

Sound Card:

Diamond Extreme 7.1 24bit (New and the audio out connector is already shot)

Power Supply:

PC Power and Cooling 700 W (refurbished)

Software:

Windows 8.1 (for games)

it is only cheaper to upgrade your existing dedicated server because you have the manpower already in place to manage it. however, if you are a small company starting out then it makes more sense to purchase cloud space. the skills of your in-house talent pool should determine the best course of action.

The rental of dedicated space curiously wasn't even mentioned in that article. On some level (to the customer), it's almost the same. Data is stored offsite on some magic box.

I presume in either case, there would need to be IT personnel (either on staff or contract) on the client side.

Click to expand...

ah ok, the article talks only in the context of storage. i was talking about web servers.

storage is pretty much free nowadays. if you just need a lot (10 TB+) you definitely need to go colocation, placing your own hardware into a datacenter where you rent a rack location, power and internet connectivity.

so much storage means you're running a real business making real money which means IT infrastructure will cost money, no way around it.

on the other hand if i'm working as sysadmin in some big company having my safe salary, i'd probably just blow the company's money on cloud and enjoy my life

we're paying $39.95 per month for our backup storage server. 3 TB disk, 1000 mbit connection, unmetered incoming. no way you can match that with cloud

Click to expand...

Is that on a SAN using iSCSI or is it an actual network device that you just connect to using something like rsync and ssh? The dedicated servers I work with that are hosted at Rackspace just do scheduled rsyncs.

Is that on a SAN using iSCSI or is it an actual network device that you just connect to using something like rsync and ssh? The dedicated servers I work with that are hosted at Rackspace just do scheduled rsyncs.

i fail to see the argument. renting a dedicated is cheaper than cloud and has no upfront investment either. you obviously need someone to admin the server, no matter if cloud or dedicated

Click to expand...

i think people are confusing hosted solutions and cloud technology (the article itself is technically incorrect). cloud technology is where the hardware can scale up or down depending on load.

hosted solutions can use cloud tech to their advantage or purchase dedi boxes and set everything up in house or allow colocation by clients.

for the end user small business startup, cloud is much cheaper. you only pay a small monthly charge for the virtual hardware you need. you don't have to pay some dude in house 70-100,000 per year to manage it.

for a large business with an IT apparatus already in place going dedi for critical applications is cheaper and wiser. those companies already are paying their IT staff to manage systems and have large budgets to upgrade every few years. although you will see more and more large corporations going with hosted solutions for some small solutions and general those hosted solutions are using cloud technology to offer a wider range of products and availability.

so "going to the cloud" as the author suggests is not very accurate. you can run your own cloud software in house on a dedi box you built yourself ( I wonder what the author thinks about that?) or you can pay a hosting company who happens to use cloud tech to their advantage. pretty fail article if you ask me.